Improvement in washing-machines



UNITED SfTA'rEs NT ERICE.

FRANCIS M. MYERS, OF WINDSOR, MISSOURI.

IMPROVEMENT IN WASHING-MACHINES..

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 159,603, datedFebruaryQ, 1875; application led November 30, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANCIS M. MYERS, ot Windsor, in the county of Henryand State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful ImprovementinWashng-lVIachines, of which the following is a specification:

Figure lis a vertical longitudinal section of my improvedwashing-machine, taken through the line w w, Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a topview of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

The invention relates to the combination of a roller, to which clothesare attached, a semicylindrical oscillating rubber, provided with aslot, through which the clothes pass, and resting upon a rollerbed,'orequivalent surface, as hereinafter described. y

A represents the suds-box of the machine, to the sides of which areattached two standards, B, the lower parts of which are made wider, andhave live, more or less, small rollers, O, pivoted to them in the arc ota circle. The upper ends of the standards B are slotted longitudinallyto receive the shaft D, to which, at the'inner sides of the standards B,are attached two disks, E. which are made a little larger thansemicircles, and have cross-bars F att-ached to the circular parts oftheir edges. The cross-bars F are corrugated longitudinally, and areplaced close together, a narrow space, j", being left between the twomiddle crossbars, as shown in Fig. l. Upon the shaft D, between thedisks E, is placed a roller, G, to one end of which is attached aratchet-wheel, H, upon the teeth ot' which the engaging end of a pawl,I, pivoted to the disk E, takes hold, and which is held against theratchet-wheel II by a spring. To the roller G are pivoted the ends of ametallic loop, J, as shown in Fig. 2. The shaft D passes through blocksor bearings K, which are placed in vertical slots in the upper edges ofthe sides of the box A. The upper edge of the blocks K is rounded off,and their top and side edges are grooved to receive the elastic bands L,which also-pass around pins M, attached to the standards B,

and which project through the lower part-s of the slots in the sides ofthe suds-box A beneath the bearing-blocks K. The blocks K, which may bemade cylindrical, it desired, bands L, and pins M enable the rubber D EF to yield, to accommodate itself to the varying thickness of theclothes being operated upon.

In using the machine the end of the clothes is passed through theopening f', between the cross-bars F, and beneath the loop' J. Therubber D E F is then oscillated vby means of a crank, N, attached to theend of the shaft D. When one side ofthe part of the clothes beingoperated upon has been sufficiently rubbed the rubber is turned oncearound in such a direction as to reverse the position ot' the clothesbetween the rubber and the roller O, and the rubber is again oscillated.When this part ofthe clothes has been sufliciently rubbed the roller Gis turn ed to roll the Washed part of the clothes upon it, and anotherpart is operated upon. When the article has .been wholly washed it isdetached and another is applied.

I am aware it is not new to provide a sector shaped corrugated -rubberwith a slot, through which the clothes may be passed; but in such casethe clothes have been fed downward by a roller suitably arrangedcontiguous and parallel to the axis ofthe rubber, and thus carried outbetween the friction-surfaces into the surrounding space or into thetub. There is hence a material difference ot' construction and offunction, correspondingly.

Having thus described my invention, I claim asnew and desire to secureby Letters Patenti The combination, with the roller-bed O, of thesemi-cylindrical rubber Il, having slot b, the crank roller Gr, loop J,and pawl and ratchet I H, as shown and described, to operate asspecilied.

FRANCIS M. MYERs.

Witnesses WILLIAM GOEORTII, M. L. STAFFORD.

